40 drums stolen from Edinburgh Samba School days before huge gig

40 drums have been stolen from the Edinburgh Samba School just days before they head to Germany to represent Scotland.

The band were due to practice for the concert last night when a white van containing all of their instruments was taken from the Blackhall area.

The group are due to perform in a special concert in Germany next week and will not be able to attend if their instruments aren't returned.

Becky Hilton from the group told Forth News: "Everybody is absolutely devastated. Intially we wanted to believe that maybe it had been towed, but no, somebody has stolen our van. It really could not be worse timing.

"We have this massive event coming up which is just such an honour to be going to and it's such an honour to be representing Scotland there. But that's not the only thing, we have a whole summer schedule of gala days and events that we are playing and if we have no drums then we can't play."

Police say they are aware of the theft and are investigating.